Small business owners have to constantly look for a diverse number of ways to ensure that their brand is not only relevant but also highly coveted and sought after by their potential customers. Simply putting up a website and a few billboards on the side of the road will not cut it anymore.

In fact, if your brand doesn't come up every time someone enters an industry related keyword into their search engine, then there is a good chance you are not doing all it takes to stay on the radar.

Social media marketing is all the rage right now, and businesses in every industry including cycling are doing all they can to take advantage of that fact.

As a business owner in the cycling industry, the social media platform you choose to use will entirely depend on the kind of clientele you pander to in your market. The options are varied regarding social media for cycling. From:

• Facebook
• Twitter
  
• Instagram
  
• YouTube
  
• Pinterest
  

What is constant is the fact that social media marketing offers great potential for excellent ROI if done properly. Here are some figures that should have you holding late-night social media marketing strategy meetings for your cycling business:

• Facebook now has well over 36 million users in the UK
• Twitter has just under 20 million users in the UK
  
• LinkedIn clocks in at just over 20 million users in the UK
  
• Instagram boasts over 16 million users in the UK
  

These are all potential clients logging in and interacting on these social media platforms on a regular basis. It is where they get their information on what to buy, their reviews on which brands to use, and where they interact with other potential buyers who value their opinion.

Pandering to these masses gives your cycling business reasonably tremendous market potential. However, it has to be done in the right way.

Advantages of using social media marketing in the cycling industry

There are so many reasons why a brand might need to grow its popularity on social media, starting from concrete strategic goals to the perception that because everyone else is doing it, then it will be prudent if we did it too.

Here are seven advantages that come with finding the right way to use social media marketing for your cycling business in the UK.

• Brand recognition
• Generating interest in what your brand offers
  
• Cost-effective marketing method
  
• Excellent way to ensure customer satisfaction
  
• Good way to increase web traffic
  
• Excellent way to create a desire for your products
  
• Perfect avenue to create social proof

Let’s take a quick look at each one to see just how it would benefit your cycling business.

1. It is an effective way of creating brand recognition

Despite the variance in the algorithms and interfaces social networks use, the common element is that they bring interaction amongst people with similar interests. They are basically doing your market research, clientele identification, and qualification for you.

For the most part, you will find that bicycle lovers have common Facebook Groups where they congregate and share ideas, reviews and brand/product referrals. Being a member of such groups and providing the followers with useful insights will quickly place you as an authority in the industry.

Once trust has been established, and everyone is familiar with your expertise in the field, selling your merchandise to these people, who are already interested in what you are selling, will be much easier.

2. It is an effective way of generating interest in what your brand offers

The very first step in a successful marketing campaign is the creation of interest in whatever you are selling. From the moment you find a group of people interested in what you have to say, it behoves you to nurture that interest and turn those people into paying customers.

You can easily do this through social media marketing. It’s in this phase of classical marketing that you demonstrate the value, advantages, and benefits of the product.

You can create attention in this phase by posting regularly about your products and engaging your fans and followers; thus, showcasing why your product or service is something that they might want or need in their life.

You need to regularly respond to queries enquiring about specific product features, how compatible a product is with another item, and explain to the customers what the benefits of a product are vis-a-vis their needs.

3. It is a cost-effective way of creating brand awareness and attaining leads

For an advertising strategy, social media marketing is possibly the cheapest way to go. Creating an account and signing up is typically free in almost all social networking platforms.

However, you can still upgrade your account so that you can access more user-friendly business oriented options for your biking industry. The fact that social media marketing is a cost-effective way of creating brand awareness is perfect for small business owners who might not have that big of a marketing budget.

4. It fosters better customer relations and satisfaction

Through the various social media platforms, small business owners in the cycling industry can create a professional voice and image for their brand. Your potential customers will get to know you better when they interact with you on your social media pages.

They will appreciate it when they post a comment on your page, and they receive a personalised reply as opposed to a computerised message.

If a customer asks about a particular type of bicycle or cycling gear, a brand that treasures its customer will take time to compose a personalised message which is perceived naturally in a favorable light by the customer. You can easily do that on your social media feed.

5. An effective way to increase your web traffic

With billions of people logging on to the various social media platforms every single day, using them effectively will help you generate more traffic to your cycling industry website.

By sharing content that links back to your website on social media, you’re giving your fans and followers a substantial reason to click through to your landing pages.

The general rule of thumb is this: the more useful the content you share, the more inbound traffic you will generate while making conversion chances.

6. An effective way to create a desire for your products and services

For the most part, people buy things because they need them. Today, however, millennials buy things because they desire to be identified with the ‘haves’ as opposed to the ‘have-nots’. This kind of vanity can be nurtured and turned into sales through social media marketing.

If a bicycle picture can say a thousand words, which means that that very picture can as well get a thousand likes. Many people follow brands because they are inspirational brands, people want to buy from these brands as well as follow them because they want to be seen to be associated with desirable brands and products.

As a brand, a simple ‘like’ or follow can be used to identify a potential customer; even if they do not own a bike or are not avid bikers as per their social media postings.

The fact that they liked your post or image shows that they are open to exploring those options. You can nurture that desire and turn it into a sale down the line. Another form of desire you can use to your advantage is the need for a bargain.

Some people follow some brands on social media because they have the hope of getting discount deals or winning something and in case the brand's strategy involves such kinds of promotions then these followers are equally as valuable as the aspirational followers of other brands. The same followers are also expressing a desire for your products.

7. Excellent avenue for reviews, referrals and social proof

Social media interactions might be the biggest influencer on buying decisions today. We are talking about social proof here:

• The number of likes you get
• The number of retweets you get
  
• The number of comments your posts get
  
• The number of positive reviews
  

These are all factors that potential clients look at when trying to decide whether or not that bike is worth buying. Social proof is a powerful marketing tool, and if you run your social media account in the right manner, this proof will always speak volumes for the value your brand brings to the market.

There is more to social media platforms than just selfies and likes. As a small business owner in the cycling industry, you can harness the power of social media marketing and take advantage of all the valuable benefits they bring.